A few years ago, the editors of Guitar World magazine compiled what we feel is the ultimate guide to the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time.

The list, which has been quoted by countless artists, websites and publications around the world, starts with Richie Sambora's work on Bon Jovi's “Wanted Dead or Alive” (Number 100) and builds to a truly epic finish with Jimmy Page's solo on "Stairway to Heaven" (Number 1).

We've kicked off a summer blockbuster of our own — a no-holds-barred six-string shootout. We're pitting Guitar World's top 64 guitar solos against each other in an NCAA-style, 64-team single-elimination tournament. Every day, we will ask you to cast your vote in a different guitar-solo matchup as dictated by the 64-team-style bracket.

You can vote only once per matchup. The voting for each matchup ends as soon as the next matchup is posted (Basically, that's one poll per day during the first round of elimination, including weekends and holidays).

In some cases, genre will clash against genre; a thrash solo might compete against a Southern rock solo, for instance. But let's get real: They're all guitar solos, played on guitars, by guitarists, most of them in some subset of the umbrella genre of rock. When choosing, it might have to come down to, "Which solo is more original and creative? Which is more iconic? or Which one kicks a larger, more impressive assemblage of asses?"

Today, Kurt Cobain's guitar solo on Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (26) squares off against Neil Young's epic solo on "Cortez the Killer" (39). Get busy! You'll find the poll at the very bottom of the story.

“I was trying to write the ultimate pop song,” explained the late Kurt Cobain. “It’s such a clichéd riff—it’s so close to Boston’s ‘More Than a Feeling’ riff or Richard Berry’s ‘Louie Louie.’ When I came up with the guitar part, Krist [Novoselic, bass] looked at me and said, ‘That’s so ridiculous.’ So I made the band play it for an hour and a half.”

“Cortez the Killer” hails from Zuma, one of Neil Young’s most overlooked albums, often lost in the shuffle of its predecessor, the much-praised Tonight’s the Night, which came out just five months prior. But there’s really a very simple explanation for the song’s high rating. Just take it from Young himself, who once proclaimed that, “ ‘Cortez’ is some of my best guitar playing ever!”

Remarkably, the song’s structure was largely shaped by an accident—a power failure which occurred in the midst of recording a perfect, transcendent take of the song. Rather than recut the tune, Young just plowed forward and later he and producer David Briggs went back and did some creative editing, which required the lopping off of several verses. “They missed a whole verse, a whole section!” Young says. “You can hear the splice on the recording where we stop and start again. It’s a messy edit…incredible! It was a total accident. But that’s how I see my best art, as one magical accident after another. That’s what is so incredible.”

“Cortez the Killer,” about the Spanish explorer who conquered Mexico with bloody success, is also a prime example of Young’s physical style of lead playing.

“I am a naturally very destructive person,” he says. “And that really comes out in my guitar playing. Man, if you think of guitar playing in terms of boxing…well, let’s just say I’m not the kind of guitarist you’d want to play against. I’m just scarred by life. Nothing in particular. No more scarred than anyone else. Only other people often don’t let themselves know how damaged they are, like I do, and deal with it.”

Would've liked to have seen these included too....
Manfred Mann-Blinded By The Light
Tom Morello-Like A Stone
Randy Rhoads-Over The Mountain
Alvin Lee- I'd Love To Change The World
KISS- Detroit Rock City
David Gilmour- Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2
Buckethead- Nottingham Lace

That's funny, I haven't looked at what's not in the bracket. No guitar player would EVER say that Smells Like Teen Spirit has a better solo than Beat It. I guess the GW editors just didn't want the top solos to all be by the same people.

None of these fall into the greatest solo of all time. Where the hell are you guys picking this crap from? Nirvana? Seriously?
you might as well place Eminem and "P-Diddy" in the running. Then you take Eruption vs Scar Tissue? Come one guys.

Really Kurt? Disparage iconic music from a band like Boston? Tom Scholz any day over Squirt Cobain. I'd rather hear the mop solo from the janitor in that video than the mess he called the ultimate pop song. Entertain us indeed.

This poll became so bored. With many atonishing new guitar player GW sent us to common places again... We all know already for sure at the end the winner solo's gona be from Van Halen, RR or Hendrix.... GW is living in the past!!!

Meh... I'm not really into either of these solos. Why they are even in this contest to begin with is a huge mystery to me, especially since every one of us could submit a mile long list of incredible iconic solos that have been left out.

Oh well, FWIW I voted for "Cortez the Killer" mainly because Kurt's solo in "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is basically just mimicking the vocal line of the song, where as at least Neil is "somewhat" exploring the fretboard with his solo (I guess). But honestly I really couldn't care less.

I'm having a little difficulty with the seeding in this poll. It's kinda a shame that either of these solos makes it out of the first round when better solos like Crossroads or Jessica are knocked out because they were up against tough competition. Oh, well.

I'm not even gonna bother voting this time because as legendary as both of these guys are, neither is a great guitar player who has any chance of coming close to winning something like this. Who picks these songs anyway? A lot of questionable choices if you ask me.

I love Neil. Young but, I had to go with Mr. Cobain with this one. Maybe another Young song like My My, Hey Hey. But it is not , so I have to go with SLTS. I have loved this song since I first heard it. I grew up with Led Zep, Hendrix, Pink Floyd etc. when I first heard Nirvana they blew me away. This was a brand form of Rock and I really loved Grunge. What is the next step in the evolution of Rock? Can not wait to find out!

LOL, well at least they didn't try to pair off Kurt or Neil with Satch, Vai, Johnson, Morse, or Govan… that would have been a bloodbath!

Having said that, I'm voting for Kurt because Nirvana was the first group that I ever heard that used the all-too-overdone-nowadays "down clean verse, angry distorted chorus" form. It was very novel with Nirvana, now every freakin' loser thinks he owns it. This form has acquired the Smoke On The Water Syndrome nowadays. Ugh.

Neil obviously can't play a good solo to save his life… but having said THAT, he's one of the very few players that you can instantly recognize on the radio. It's kinda like being the best of the worst guitar players that you've ever heard.

Right now, Neil's ahead 70% to 30%, so I'm sure that I've enraged at least a few of you out there.